Easy Washer Corp / Restro Advice Needed!

[bigskymusiclove]

Greetings all 1st post here, a buddy of mine was cleaning out a shed and gave me a old Easy Washing Machine Corp wringer washer. It even works! The tranny and motor sound smooth and quite. The pump however needs a lot of help, the pump lets by a lot of water, and rubber drive wheel is not making contact with pump drive wheel so to make it pump you have to push the pump up into the drive wheel.

After much fiddling with a cotter pin, I got the agitator control lever working again. What kind of service am I looking at doing on this? I know I have to replace all the rubber hose and power cords. What about the fluid in the tranny would that need to be changed is it 80/90 gear oil? I don't know the 1st thing about rebuilding the pump? Is there any guides on how to do that.

Thanks for any info you can provide.

 

[e2l-arry]

Here's what I've learned

Mine is a Maytag but wringer washers have certain similarities. What do you mean by a lot of water gets by the pump? Even with a pump, the pump won't stop water flow if you lower the hose below the water level. You can gravity drain with or without the pump. On mine the pump "switch" is nothing more that a mechanical series of levers that move the pump wheel to the pulley for "on" and removes contact for "off". It's just a matter of adjustment. Move the lever to on and look at what you'd need to adjust, usually a lock nut and adjusting nut, to have the pump make contact. The adjust as needed. It should then disconnect from the pulley contact when moved to the off position.

As far as the tranny fluid,there's no set time form changing it out like the oil in a car engine. Only of it's leaked out or been contaminated with water. You say you're sounds good when plugged in. If you see no evidence of leakage, I'd leave it alone. One thing I found interesting, at least on a Maytag, the transmission, or "Power Unit" runs whenever the motor in plugged in. It then a set of clutches that engage the agitator and wringer making them activated or not. So, if you plug yours in, it runs and you can activate the agitator and wringer, I'd say you're ready for the water test to see if there are any leaks. You might be lucky and even though this washer has probably been sitting unused for years, it might just fire up and be ready to wash!

Keep us posted and Good Luck!

 

[stan]

Agree

With Larry about the power unit, don't mess with it, unless you have to!
For the pump..
You need to be able to look under the skirt, and see what going on when the pump lever is engaged, (on) and when is not (off)
Move the lever back and forth to see how it's supposed to work. You may have to lay the machine on its side, in order to see.
(Easier to see on a Maytag, because of the shorter skirts on Maytags)
The machine dose not need to be plugged in, and running when checking this. Should be just simple adjustment, provided the mechanicals are actually still present.

If you have not had the agitator out yet, you might see if it lifts off, as it should, and check to see what's underneath before filling with water.

Let us know how you make out.

 

[bigskymusiclove]

Thanks!

Thanks for the advice, helps a lot, so now all I have to do is get some rubber hose work on the power cord and fiddle with the pump. I did not know it was gravtiy drain, you can't see it in the photo, but the pump only has about 4" of rubber hose on the outlet side, so that would explain why it lets water by the pump, I thought the pump sealed off the water until it was activated.

 

[electronicontrl]

The Easy Way

Hey nice find.
My grandmother had a wringer model like that. Hers was bought in 1948. They had a repair man remove the pump, since they did not use the pump.
From some of the threads I've read of Easy, some models have a direct drive instead of a belt. Does your wringer have a belt?
IIRC, the motor has a high-pitched sound which is very quiet. I remember pushing the red and black buttons.

 

[e2l-arry]

The pump

Doesn't act as a water barrier until activated. Even on Automatics, if you want to drain the tub, say if the machine totally broke down or a power outage, you can drain the washer by laying the drain hose on the floor. You should be able to find hose at a hardware store. They usually sell it by the foot. You'll have to tell them how many feet you need and the inside diameter (ID) of the hose, Outside diameter OD) too but the I.D. is more important because that's what connects to the pump or drain.

Have Fun!

 

[bigskymusiclove]

electronicontrl

From what I can see everything is direct drive. There is a rubber hose like thing, that connects the motor to the tranny, but everything appears direct drive.

I will go out tomorrow monday and get some hose and clamps, and report back.

Stan, I did out the agitator and there is some sand an dirt in there, I will hose that out while I have the drain hose disconnected.

 

[e2l-arry]

I doubt it's direct drive.

The motor turns a pulley via a v-belt. That pulley moves the gears in the power unit. The a series of clutches either engages or disengages the agitator and/or wringer. I could be wrong. But unless EASY did something completely different, it's belt drive.

 

[stan]

Agreed

If its motor driven... Then Bigsky has to show us pics of that, cause that, I've got to see!

 

[bigskymusiclove]

Photos

Here are some photos of the washer, it is in fact direct drive, the main motor input shaft is on the side of the tranny.

 

[bigskymusiclove]

Photo 2

Photo 2

 

[bigskymusiclove]

Also what year is this from? Late 40's?

 

[mickeyd]

Welcome to the club, Big Sky ~

It's just like the original Easy Spins before Easy was taken over and cheapened.

There is a belt, just one, for the pump. You have to remove the curved bar clamps and slide the rubber hose-like coupler back, exposing a gap. Then you can slip a new belt through the gap, work it around the pump pulley and you're in business. The standard belt from the classic Hoover Vac worked for me.

When I read the other day about "the rubber hose like thing," I was amazed. Could it be, I thought, that the Wringer pump is engineered like the Easy Spin. Indeed it is.

Is your pump missing? How 'bout a close up of the control panel with the cord out if the way. It almost looks like half a panel from the Easy Spin. Your machine is from the late 40's to very early 50's. The chrone stripes give the age away.

Took some pump pix for you, but they're still in iphone cyberspace. When they arrive, I 'll show ya.

My name is Michael. What's yours?

 

[mickeyd]

The top clamp is original;

the big bottom one, a replacement. Wiggling and pressing the rubber coupler back to get the belt through the gap is tricky and challenging. You'll only need to remove the bottom or right clamp to expose the drive shaft and the gap. It's pretty cool that such a humble piece of thick rubber makes all the magic possible.

 

[e2l-arry]

Well I'll be switched!

Direct drive on a wringer. This is COMPLETELY different than my Maytag E2LP.

Larry

 

[mickeyd]

Easies were always thus. Even the very early Whirly-Dry is direct drive. The Easy Spin spins at 900 rpm, and the direct drive of the spinner spray cone rinsing is kind of breath-taking to watch in operation.

This lasted forever till Hupp took over. The stroke-of-brilliance cable controlled operating system which once never failed now malfunctioned regularly. The pump was moved under the agitator which powered it, and everything slowed down, a train-wreck.

Have yet to learn the particulars or the dates of the changeover. Some day!

 

[stan]

Well

Shut my mouth! Who'd have thought !

 

[bigskymusiclove]

Michael

Name is Eric, Thanks for for everyone help and input. My pump is there and it's friction driven, it's backwards of a belt setup, close to the drive pulley to run and away for idle.

Went to the hardware store yesterday, $15 for about 5ft of hose, a handful of clamps and a union/coupler because the metal drain spout is crimped on the end of the original hose. The original drain hose is still in pretty good shape, the ones under the washer are pretty dried and cracked.

I will get a photo of the control panel today or tomorrow, it's been crazy hot lately very odd for Montana.

 

[bradross]

Easy - similarity to my 1948 Kenmore

Don't know how I missed this posting - I'm always looking for the posts about vintage wringer washers! Anyway, the underside looks very similar to my 1948 Kenmore (built by Whirlpool). It is also direct drive (rather than belt-driven like Maytag wringer washers.)

The pump assembly looks almost identical - from your photo, it appears that the rubber "band" or gasket on the drive shaft wheel is missing. I encountered a similar experience with my Kenmore - the rubber had deteriorated so badly, I scraped it off and fashioned a new gasket by first using a silicone-type rubber from a tube, and then topped it with a vacuum belt. I've attached a pic - hope it helps you.

All the best with the restoration effort!